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Solid metallic hydrogen: will it superconduct at room temperature?

Solid metallic hydrogen has apparently been recently created in the lab. If verified, this could be a big deal (see accompanying question on citations), as the substance has been theorized for decades and may have very interesting properties.

Among these, there has been speculation that it may superconduct, and that this superconductivity may be maintained even to room temperature, which would be a revolutionary discovery.

As of the preprint's preparation, there was apparently a sample sitting in a cryostat in the lab:

As of the writing of this article we are maintaining the first sample of the first element in the form of solid metallic hydrogen at liquid nitrogen temperature in a cryostat. This valuable sample may survive warming to room temperature and the DAC could be extracted from the cryostat for greatly enhanced observation and further study. Another possibility is to cool to liquid helium temperatures and slowly release the load to see if SMH is metastable. An important future measurement is to study this metal for high temperature superconductivity.

Will a solid metallic hydrogen sample superconduct at room temperature?

Resolution is positive if a preprint or published paper credibly reports experimental measurements of superconductivity in solid metallic hydrogen at 0 degrees centigrade or above (we'll allow a cold room) prior to start of 2018.

Categories: Physical Sciences – Condensed Matter and Materials Science

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